After the Galapagos and before the Amazon, we spent two nights in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. It sits at an altitude of 2,800 meters and kind of has a reputation for crime. I wasn’t over the moon about spending time in Quito (altitude and crime don’t do it for me), but I was curious. […]

I wasn’t nervous about the night hike until Romero spotted a snake. The main problem with this is that he saw the snake before we even left on the hike. It was on the path leading to the bathroom, yet another clue that I should under no circumstances use the bathroom in the dark. “Viper,” […]

Lately I’ve been really interested in finding out where my food comes from. It’s really sinking in how much I don’t know about what I eat, and it kind of freaks me out. During our stay in the Amazon, Jared and I had the opportunity to make chocolate from scratch – to see exactly how […]

Sorry. That’s a really lazy blog post title, but it’s true – our last destination in Ecuador, in all of South America, was the Amazon. I feel kind of like a cheater when I say that we went to ‘THE AMAZON,’ because it’s true and not true at the same time. To me, the Amazon […]

Before we went to the Galapagos, I wasn’t sure it was going to happen, mainly because of what I perceived to be prohibitive costs. I thought you had to do an 8-day cruise or you just wouldn’t get much out of the islands. I’m happy to say that I was wrong. Jared and I spent […]

While traveling through South America, I had an intense, unfounded paranoia that we were going to be the victims of violent crime. Intense. I was convinced that we’d be mugged at knifepoint. Or hijacked on a bus. Or maybe ripped off at an ATM. Or, worst of all, kidnapped on the sidewalk so someone could […]

Hi. I’m Lauren.

After working 30+ jobs in 6 different countries, I realized that the perfect career was not out there waiting for me, and that I didn't ever have to get travel out of my system. I built a professional life through a series of lateral movements, not a climb up the career ladder. I'm now a writer, currently road-tripping Australia with my husband and a camper trailer, extolling the virtues of working holiday visas to anyone who will listen.